Chapter 27

The city continued noisy, no matter how far Elizabeth ventured into it with the captain of the guard.

Women clung to their husbands, and the opposite also occurred in every street, with many men holding onto their partners, preventing them from straying while they cried constantly.

"No-no... You can't. You're just a guard. You shouldn't have to do this... you shouldn't..."

Tears were mutual, and those bidding farewell were clad, some awkwardly, in their service armor, something they had rarely used before.

After all, it's a relatively safe city, with no sign of monsters nearby, which creates a strong sense of security that even extends to those who should protect it, making them, in a way, complacent even in their duties.

"I beg you, please..., don't go. Don't..."

Elizabeth constantly tried to avert her gaze from those situations, but it was to no avail.

Left or right, it doesn't matter. In every direction, there's at least one couple in the same situation, playing out the exact same scene as all the others.

"That..."

Elizabeth's eyes slowly wandered the streets, observing all those tears that seemed endless.

Some found solace at home or even in small alleyways, perhaps seeking at least a bit of privacy, but it didn't work. Their cries could be heard from across the street, and for Elizabeth, she could even hear their tears hitting the ground.

"What's happening..?" Elizabeth questioned.

"..."

Clutching his fists tightly, the guard looked around;

"All those above level 35 have been summoned," he replied.

Reluctantly, Elizabeth glanced around;

"All the residents of this city...?"

"No... from the entire Kingdom."

The cries continued even as Elizabeth entered the center of the guard of that city; a building made of wood, certainly the largest and most notable building in that city, of course, excluding the property of the ruler.

Some of the sounds came from inside the building, where some of the present guards cried discreetly in different corners of the place. Others came from outside the property, from the people who huddled in the streets around.

But none of this mattered, not to Elizabeth. Because no matter where the crying person was or how far away they were, in the end, to Elizabeth, it felt as if they were all suffering right beside her; standing around her as she seemed to be submerged in their tears.

"I'm sorry, miss. But unfortunately, due to the royal decree, you'll have to go along with some others," said the captain of the guard, standing next to a large circle that, unlike the rest of the place, is made of gray stone blocks, with various strange runes, which appear to have been drawn by something akin to a white crayon and is surrounded by five small altars with round surfaces.

"No problem, as far as I'm concerned, but..."

Elizabeth approached the circle and examined what was around; the circle and the runes themselves have nothing special, but the same cannot be said about four of the altars. The amount of mana concentrated in those small constructions is such that it even seemed to be overflowing.

"What is this... circle? And these blue stones on the altars?"

The altars indeed have a lot of mana, however, the place where the largest amounts gather is undoubtedly in the small blue stones on them.

It's so much mana that Elizabeth can see with her own eyes it moving slowly as if it were a thin layer of shiny dust.

"This is a teleportation magic circle, something capable of instantly transporting several people to any other place in the Kingdom where there is another identical circle. Now the stones, no one knows exactly what they are, but they are usually called mana stones and are what make the magic circle work."

"Teleportation magic?" said Elizabeth, surprised, as she carefully touched the runes on the stone floor. "I thought only elemental magics existed. Doing something like this is also possible?"

"Not anymore. This is a lost magic, so no one knows how it works or what its creation process is." approaching one of the altars, the captain tried to touch one of the mana stones. "The amount of mana spent to activate it is so great that it needs these unknown objects to do so. So, even if we had the knowledge of how to create the magic, without the mana stones it would be impossible to activate it, at least not without many sacrifices in the process."

"And as you can see..." the captain directed one of his fingers towards the stone, but his hand was immediately repelled by a strange invisible barrier surrounding it. "Studying the stones is also not an option."

"I see..."

"So, miss, if you have no further questions, could you please step into the magic circle?"

Carefully stepping, Elizabeth walked over the runes, after all; "It's a lost magic... What if I end up ruining it...?"

"Are you all ready?!" exclaimed the captain, catching the attention of everyone present in the large room, including Elizabeth, who quickly raised her head.

They all looked at each other, some couldn't even dry their own tears.

Clutching his fists, the captain bit his lip and closed his eyes for a moment;

"Enter the circle...!" he said, but no one listened, or rather, no one dared to move.

They all clenched their fists tightly and closed their eyes as they tried to accept the situation.

As blood dripped from their fingers and lips, the captain opened his eyes;

"Enter the circle!!" he exclaimed, his voice echoing throughout the building and could be heard by those nearby, outside.

As tears wet their path, all those present in the room rushed towards the magic circle.

"Miss..., please..., place one of your hands on the central altar and transfer some of your mana to activate it," said the captain, with tears in his eyes.

Elizabeth hesitated.

Everyone in that place might be trying to hold themselves back, to stop their tears.

But none of them succeeded.

Especially outside the guard center, where the tears intensified immensely after hearing the captain's shout, after all, after the group in that room, they would be next.

With great sorrow, Elizabeth placed one of her hands on the central altar's flat surface and transferred some of her mana.

Quickly, the mana flowed through all the runes and reached the edges of the circle.

Moments later, the altars around them glowed, and the runes began to illuminate slowly, with the light coming towards the central altar.

In some way, Elizabeth could understand what that captain was feeling.

It might not be the same situation, where a war was being waged, but every time she sent her subordinates on high-risk missions where they might not return the next day, her eyes always looked the same way his did now.

And when the mana reached the central altar and a bright light rose from the ground, the tears streaming from the captain's eyes made her vividly remember the moments after such missions were given; the moments after her subordinates left to complete them, when she was finally alone in her old office.

After the light extinguished, Elizabeth found herself surrounded by a large number of people, an incomparable number to the previous one, in a place where several magic circles met.

Passing through dozens of people and feeling as if she were walking underwater, submerged in her tears that she could hear hitting the ground perfectly, Elizabeth left the huge hall where they were and walked through the corridors.

Upon seeing her, everyone, whether guards, knights, or servants, knelt immediately.

After all, unlike the residents of the rest of the Kingdom, those who live in or at least frequent the Royal Castle have already seen her at least once, even if only for a brief moment, which is enough for her image to be stored in their memories.

Elizabeth stopped and took a deep breath.

Before her stood the imposing and grand doors of the royal hall, the king's chamber.

She sighed.

The first step was taken, with her passing by the knights who bowed before her and then opened her way through the majestic doors.

"You..." said the king, looking at Elizabeth as he tried to contain his anger and gripped one of the armrests of the throne that had already been replaced with one hand. "Where have you been in the past few days..? Why did you flee and abandon your post? ...The people, those who trusted you the most?"

August's anger was obvious to anyone who looked, let alone Elizabeth, who could feel it and see it clearly in his gaze.

Elizabeth walked up to the steps of the throne and stopped, but she did not bow;

"Forgive me, Majesty, but I couldn't continue as I was before. I needed to become stronger and fix that problem that was bothering me."

"...And did you manage to fix it..?"

"Definitely."

"That's... great..."

After those words, August released the armrest of the throne and seemed to begin to look at Elizabeth with different eyes, after all; now he wouldn't need to summon another hero, which saved him a lot of time.

The discussion went on for some time, with some silent moments where they both stared at each other, but from the start Elizabeth knew exactly how it would end.

"If so many summons are being made, there is only one way... Only one possible ending."

August rose from his throne and, as expected by Elizabeth, put an end to the discussion with the following words;

"I'm glad you're well and feel better now. Unfortunately, the situation of the Kingdom is not the same as before, the war will intensify. So, for the Kingdom..., for the people, I ask you, lead the Camelot army towards the battlefield and eliminate those demons who wish to soil our sacred lands."